Tag: tariffs

On the Saturday, May 24th, 2025 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, a brand new super-theme park opened in Orlando; and the Trump tariffs are not only impacting vacationers from other countries, business travel to the US is off even more dramatically in the past couple of months. A lot of lost dollars for our economy. Important note for Southwest travelers. If you make a reservation after Tuesday the 27th, you will NOT receive two free bags, regardless of when you travel. Update in our Smarter Traveler segment. The Travel Guys slip into the entertainment world from time to time, because entertainment is such a big part of travel. Theater venues outside of New York City have struggled to survive post-COVID, and Mark addresses the importance of supporting your favorite arts group now more than ever. Our Odds and Ends segment features a heads up on a new cruise scam on the internet, an update on an interesting battle shaping up at the Chicago Airport between American and United, and Mark shares his pet peeves on hotel rooms (including those sliding bathroom doors and "smoked" ones you can still see through; plus the lack of updated charging facilities in rooms).

On the Saturday, March 15th, 2025 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, driverless taxis got almost 600 tickets in San Francisco last year; and in the big story this week, Southwest Airlines is changing its long time two bags free policy and charging for baggage starting in late May. When an airline offers a “Lifetime Benefit,” you would think that would be easy to define. Well, United Airlines is changing one of their “lifetime” policies, another reminder that those points and miles you earn do not really belong to you, they belong to the hotel or airline. It’s the topic of our Smarter Traveler segment. We talked with Chris Elliott this week about the controversial tariffs the president is proposing and how they might impact international travelers. He also weighs in on the Southwest changes and a new book he has written, The Unauthorized Travel Manual: Secrets For a Smarter Trip From a Nationally Syndicated Columnist and Consumer Advocate. We also took calls from listeners on the Southwest changes.

On the Saturday, February 8th, 2025 edition of The Travel Guys… In the Travel News, Delta Airlines is partnering with Draft Kings and You Tube to offer in flight gaming, coming soon to a flight near you. Here's a thought: Canadians spend more money in our country as tourists than travelers from ANY OTHER DESTINATION; and now they are talking seriously about cutting back on travel to their previously friendly neighbor as the result of tariff talks. American Airlines is rumored to be on the verge of a crackdown on carry-on bags. You know, the ones that are WAY too big to meet the sizing requirement and take up a lot of overhead bin space. Yeah, THOSE bags. This may not have a pretty ending. More in our Smarter Traveler segment. Our friend Ned Levi from Travelers United joins us to share his tips about picking a cabin on a cruise ship. It's one of our most informative interviews of all time, as Ned talks about inside vs. outside, protecting yourself from motion sickness, noise on board and all sorts of things a veteran cruiser like Ned can share to help you select your cabin. Tom gets Mark to share his thoughts on a variety of travel questions, everything from the impact of tariffs to some of his favorite haunts.